After days of speculation, Kristaps Porzingis confirmed that he’ll be ready when the NBA Finals begin Thursday night, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The Celtics big man, who has been out of action since April 29 with a right calf strain, updated his status during a session with reporters at Wednesday’s media day, and the team made it official by not listing anyone on its injury report.
“I will play tomorrow,” Porzingis said. “… Tomorrow will be my first real minutes in a while. I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment. But there’s nothing like game minutes and game experience that I will get tomorrow. It will be tough to jump into the Finals like this. But I did everything I could to prepare for it. And we’ll see tomorrow night.”
Because of the long layoff, the Celtics will have to monitor Porzingis’ calf and may limit his minutes throughout the series to lessen the risk of a repeat injury, Terada adds. Porzingis is confident about his ability to stay healthy after going through a long list of tests to receive medical clearance.
“I did everything,” he said. “You have to check all the boxes to even get to this point. Of course, as I said, you cannot imitate the same intensity in practice as it’s going to be tomorrow in the game. I have to feel confident to go out there and leave it all out on the floor and expect that I’m going to be healthy and be completely fine.”
There’s more from Boston:
- The memories of watching the Warriors celebrate their 2022 championship at TD Garden are still fresh for the Celtics players who were on that team, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. It’s part of the motivation to earn a banner of their own this time around. “I’m a firm believer in everything happens for a reason,” Jayson Tatum said. “There’s a lesson to be learned in every situation. I do feel a lot different this time, this go-around, two years later. I’m excited for the opportunity for us to get the job done.”
- Al Horford inspires his teammates by continuing to be productive late in his career, notes Jay King of The Athletic. King points out that Horford, who turned 38 on Monday, is one of just five active players remaining from the 2007 draft. He’s the oldest big man to still be in a team’s rotation, and only six players older than him were still in the league this season. “It’s funny,” Horford said, “because I feel like everybody has been talking about me being old since I was, like, 23 years old. Because I was already thinking ahead, thinking team, thinking all these other things (about the future), and that’s just who I am.”
- Jrue Holiday talked to ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins (video link) about winning over Boston fans after being acquired in a trade last fall. “When I first came, I thought that they would hate me,” Holiday said, referring to the rivalry from his time in Milwaukee. “… Once [Boston] loves you, there’s nothing like it.”